As they all ventured forward, Twilight looked back on their fearful looks. They're all so scared... and most of that's because the weather and environment in here is natural! Ponies don't come in here because they're scared of the monsters, discouraging pegasi from controlling the weather, so when it happens naturally they're scared?! "So... I'm guessing none of you have been here before?"
"Ugh, Heavens no! Just look at it - it's dreadful." Rarity's voice was also laced with fear.
"And it ain't natural," added AJ. Nopony saw the blue mist seeping into the ground below them " Folks say it don't work the same as Equestria."
Twilight stopped, and looked back at her. "What in the hoof is that supposed to mean?"
"Nopony knows. You know why?" Rainbow flew ominously out of shadows, scaring Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie. As she began to crawl creepily towards them, AJ glared at her.
"Rainbow, quit it."
"'Cause everypony who's ever come in has never come out!" As if on cue, the cliff then broke away, Rainbow and Fluttershy only missing the fall as they had instinctively flown up into the air.
"Fluttershy, quick!!" Rainbow dashed after the other four.
" Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!" Fluttershy nervously repeated to herself, flying after her. Rarity let out a scream. Rainbow scooped up Pinkie, and Fluttershy grabbed onto Rarity's tail, slowing her fall. Applejack managed to get a hold of a tree root, but Twilight had slipped to the edge of the cliff, just barely holding on. AJ, seeing this, let go of her root and slid down to Twilight.
"Hold on! Ah'm a-comin'!"
Even though she knew she would be safe, Twilight still felt a panic rising up inside of her. "A-applejack, help!!"
AJ grimaced, as it was hard to hold on to Twilight while staying put on the cliff. Then, she subtly looked up, and back to her. "Let go."
How in Tartarus is that supposed to help me?? I still don't really understand how this whole thing even represents Honesty in the first place. The first time, it was more along the lines of unfounded trust! "WHAT?! Are you insane?!"
"No, Ah ain't. Ah promise you'll be safe."
"How do you know that?!"
"Now listen here. Rainbow and Fluttershy's hooves are free again. What Ah'm saying to you is the honest truth. Let go, and they'll catch you. You'll be safe."
Twilight's eyes softened. "What about you?"
"Ah'll be fine."
Twilight hesitated, and then let go. She let out a scream as she fell, but was soon caught by Fluttershy and Rainbow. However, Flutters accidentally lost her grip on Twilight, causing all three of them to plummet a bit more.
"Sorry girls," Fluttershy said. "I'm not used to holding anything more than a bunny or two." As they descended more slowly, AJ began hopping down the steep cliff by using niches along its edge.
Out of the corner of her eye, Twilight noticed a blue mist flying away from the cliff to something off in the distance. She faintly heard a roar in the distance, but nopony else seemed to hear it. The group once again set off for the old castle.
"And once Pinkie and Rarity were saved, whoosh! Me and Fluttershy loop-de-loop around and WHAM! Caught you right in the nick of time." Rainbow landed, and began walking next to Twilight.
Twilight rolled her eyes. "Okay, Rainbow, I get it. I was there, remember? Now, we have to fo-" She suddenly gasped, as the manticore finally made its presence known. As it roared, it revealed a thorn stuck tightly into his left paw.
"Oh no, a manticore!!"
The monster suddenly leapt at Rarity, but she bucked him in the face with surprising strength.
"Take that, you ruffian!" Unperturbed by her attack, he simply roared in her face, messing up her hair. "My hair!" She ran away from it, not noticing Fluttershy's weak cry for them to wait.
Twilight noticed this, and yelled out, "WAIT!!!"
Applejack, who had just jumped on top of it, stared at her in confusion. The manticore, too, seemed to be confused, and merely shook her off his back. Twilight turned to Fluttershy, who walked calmly up to him. He let out a growl, and pulled his arm back for a strike, causing the rest of the group to flinch and look away. However, instead of cries of pain, they were greeted by Fluttershy's gentle voice.
"Shhhh... it's okay." She gently nuzzled his left paw, calming him down. He revealed the thorn in his paw to her. "Oh, you poor, poor little baby."
"Little?" Rainbow snarked.
"Now this might hurt for just a second." Flutters tore out the thorn causing him to roar in pain, holding her up to his mouth.
"FLUTTERSHY!!!"
However, the manticore merely began to happily lick her mane, giving her a very large cowlick (a manticorelick, really). She giggled as he began to purr like a cat. "Aw you're just a little ol' baby kitty, aren't you? Yes you are, yes you are!" Everypony else smiled at the adorable moment, and walked past the manticore.
"You saw the thorn in his paw when he reared up, didn't you?" Twilight asked when Fluttershy had been placed back onto the ground.
"Actually, I didn't," Fluttershy admitted. "I was just going to try to calm him down at first. Sometimes we all need to be shown a little kindness." As the two trotted to get back with the group, the thorn lying harmless upon the ground transformed back into blue mist, and flew up ahead of them.
As they began to get even deeper into the forest, Twilight began to think about the next trials.
Okay, so the next one is Pinkie's. I'm still kinda embarrassed over the way I acted. Honestly, what kind of challenge is scary trees? It may be startling, yes, but not really that scary. I would be more worried if they somehow came to life, or something. I just jinxed myself, didn't I?
Rarity startled her out of her thoughts, as she began to complain about the "icky muck" in the forest. They then went underneath a heavy canopy of trees which blocked the moon's light, making it difficult to see.
"Well, I didn't mean that literally."
"The ruins of the castle could be right in front of us, and we wouldn't even know it," Twilight complained. Pretty soon, everypony began to bump into each other, muttering apologies.
"Oh wait, Ah think Ah stepped in somethin'"
Fluttershy chose that exact moment to let out a terrified, high-pitched scream.
"It's jist mud..." She then noticed a large tree with a slightly demonic face etched into it. Everypony besides Twilight then began to promptly scream, terrified by the not-that-scary trees (and let's go to a commercial break for a cliffhanger that's not a cliffhanger because "scary" trees are not suspenseful). Twilight merely rolled her eyes, and instead turned to Pinkie, who had begun giggling and making funny faces at the trees.
Pinkie then turned to the rest of them. "Oh girls, don't you see?" She then began to tell them about how her grandmother had told her to laugh at scary things instead of be scared. Twilight still wasn't completely sure how that was supposed to work, but instead laughed at the tree she had been so scared of the first time. Soon enough, they all were curled up on the ground, laughing merrily together.
The other two trials past on pretty uneventfully. Rarity helped Steven Magnet by giving him a mismatching mustache, which Twilight thought looked unpleasantly asymmetrical, but whatever. Then Rainbow managed to resist being the fastest pegasus in the bucking Everfree Forest, where competition was nil, and fixed a bridge. They were soon at the ruined castle, and entered into the main chamber of the castle, where a large pedestal held the Elements of Harmony, encased in stone.
Fluttershy and Rainbow helped to get them down, gently placing them on the ground in front of Twilight.
"One, two, three, four..." Pinkie counted. "There's only five!"
"Where's the sixth?" Rainbow asked, looking around.
"The book said: 'when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed.'"
"What in the hay is that supposed to mean?" asked Applejack.
Twilight was silent for a moment. I know what the spark is, this time. But maybe we can avoid a confrontation with Nightmare, and use the Elements as a back-up plan... I'm not too sure, though. There are so many possible outcomes if we manage to talk to her, who knows who drastically it could change our future?
"Is something wrong, darling?"
Twilight snapped herself out of her thoughts. "No, no, I was just-" She paused. "I was just wondering what the spark could mean. It could be anything, like a spark of magic, or maybe even fire. I'm going to try to use my magic, first."
AJ, Rainbow, Rarity, Flutters, and Pinkie all stepped back, allowing Twilight more room to work with her magic. However, as she began to light up her horn, a starry blue mist swept into the chamber. It swept angrily around the Elements, and created a towering tornado. Twilight cried out, and jumped into the vortex just as it teleported with a flash.
"TWILIGHT!!!"
The room became eerily silent.
"Twilight?"
"What???"
"Where did she go?"
"What happened?"
"What's going on?"